Car opening Bloopers

[The Speed of Dark]

Ok! The other day, Saturday to be exact, I was called to open a car. I arrived and met with the client and when I got there I forgot one thing. I brought my tools, brought my knowledge on how to open the car and brought my butt over to the site.... so what did I forget? I forgot the paper(s) for documentation purposes! WHOOOOOOPS!
My advice to everyone who does car openings (legally) is to get a plastic box and put a bunch of the documents into the box. If you state does not require legal documentation, I am not sure of such states existing, then do what ya got to do.
I also recommend putting some of the papers into your glove compartment in case you forget your box. Good lucks my fellow Locksmiths.

[Eyes_Only]

Yeah thats happened to me at least once or twice. It's almost as embarrassing as scratching up the window tint job.

But the habit I used back when I was doing that work recently is keep an excessive amount of blank invoice papers and stuff and once it's down by a third, re-stock excessively again. I even did that for one of my co-workers once in a while cos he always took off on a call without checking if he had the necessary paper work in the van.

Hey, what kind of car was it?

[The Speed of Dark]

I think it was a 2005 Chevy Aveo

[Tyler J. Thomas]

Speaking of bloopers:

If it's a cold winter night and someone locked their keys in their running car with the heat on, don't leave the door open once you've got it open. Just trust me on this one.

[UEDan]

Speaking of bloopers:

If it's a cold winter night and someone locked their keys in their running car with the heat on, don't leave the door open once you've got it open. Just trust me on this one.

I'm sorry, I'm from SoCal so I have no idea what would happen. Please share

[Tyler J. Thomas]

Speaking of bloopers:

If it's a cold winter night and someone locked their keys in their running car with the heat on, don't leave the door open once you've got it open. Just trust me on this one.

I'm sorry, I'm from SoCal so I have no idea what would happen. Please share

Former co-worker relayed the above situation. His story went something like this:

Gets a lock out call late at night in the dead of winter. He opens the car and leaves the door open while writing up the bill. Suddenly the glass just "explodes" and goes everywhere. He postulated that the sudden change of temperature on the inside of the glass (from hot to extremely cold) caused it fail. I'm sure the wedge's added pressure didn't hurt either. Lucky for him it was called in by AAA and they paid the damages, which according to them, happens more often than one would think.

[Eyes_Only]

That's one reason I'm glad I live in SoCal.

You still have to be careful with a UTW tool but as far as wedging the door for a reach tool, you can pump up your favorite air wedge as far the car door will allow in the middle of winter and not see any problems (at least I haven't).

I've seen many towies and even a few lockies wedge out the door of what looked to me to be practically an inch. Of course you have to be pretty special and stupid to do this in the first place.

[Wizer]

He must have made a scratch or a small crack in the window.
If there is not much tension in a car glass with no scratches, it can take temperature chances really well, but if the window has been installed so that there is tension, or there is a really small crack, even turning on the heater could brake it. Usually this happens on the windshield tho.
I would have asked the lockey to replace the window.

[Tyler J. Thomas]

He must have made a scratch or a small crack in the window.
If there is not much tension in a car glass with no scratches, it can take temperature chances really well, but if the window has been installed so that there is tension, or there is a really small crack, even turning on the heater could brake it. Usually this happens on the windshield tho.
I would have asked the lockey to replace the window.

Could have been all that and then some. Guy wasn't a decent lockie in the least and didn't last here very long. He could have been BS'ing me with the story but somehow I don't think he'd lie to soil his already sour reputation, never know though.

[The Speed of Dark]

I think that the situation listed previously about a window exploding is rather plausible especially since the extreme temp changes can expand and contract medal to where it has to be tampered with - for example the door frame or the roof.

I would use extreme caution when opening such a car and always have them sign a waiver or something to cover my butt. In any case, You can choose not to open the car when you show up and give them the reason, especially if they refuse to sign the waiver. There is no law obligating you to open a car door when you think it is not in your, or your clients, best interest to do so.

[unlisted]

Extreme temp changes will not shatter a car window- or I would be replacing mine every winter when I pre warm my vehicle outside in Canadian coldness...


Tempered glass is VERY hard to break, unless you tap it on a edge, or have a very sharp object to bash the surface tension.

If your using a reach around window tool, theres a very good chance when the door was opened, the tool may of tapped the side of the glass. (by side, i mean a edge and/or corner)

Trust me, its stupid easy to break tempered glass at a corner/edge.


(and yes, I have heated my car well over 100 degrees inside, with a -40 outside.. no windows shattered when I opened the door and left it open while loading/unloading, etc.. .. )

[npdaniels]

I would have to agree with Unlisted. There must have been some underlying issues with the glass, maybe the wedge had cracked the glass. In my previous line of work, I have had to break a few side windows and it takes a good force to break tempered glass.

[ElbowMacaroni]

When I used to live where it gets cold, I used to deice my windows by throwing a dutch oven fully of boiling water on the windows. Sounds like the window was already damaged or the guy was blowing smoke up yer kilt...